Category Archives: Wind power

Minister Chiarelli: you need “better control” of your power costs

16 Thursday Jan 2014

Posted by in Ottawa, Renewable energy, Wind power

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As per our post on Monday, a panel consisting of a local business representative, a social assistance agency, and a farm owner were guests on CBC’s Ottawa Morning show, to discuss the impact of rising electricity bills. They all said that time-of-use had affected them significantly, and the increase in electricity rates was just going to be worse. The farm owner, Peter Ruiter of Black Rapids Farm, said his cows need to be milked at the appropriate times every day, and there was no time-of-use flexibility for his operation. He invited Energy Minister Bob Chiarelli to come and see for himself.

Mr Chiarelli was interviewed on the show yesterday: his appearance was, in our view, a shocking demonstration of partisan politics but worse, one of complete ignorance of the power situation in Ontario. His claim that Ontario Power Generation made $7B for the taxpayers of Ontario is false, for example. And his claim that power bill increases are just a “blip” is insulting. While interviewer Hallie Cotnam caught him out on that, there was no question as to why the province continues to approve multi-million-dollar deals with wind power developers, for power we don’t need.

The link to the entire interview is here.

The rumour is that Mr Chiarelli is going to retire and not run in the next provincial election. Given his performance in this all-important portfolio, we think that is a “smart” decision.

Ontario’s electricity bills: rising costs for everyone

13 Monday Jan 2014

Posted by in Ottawa, Renewable energy, Wind power

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Ottawa Morning

Here from today’s CBC show Ottawa Morning, is a panel discussion on the impact of Ontario’s rising electricity bills. The panelists include a representative from the Preston Street BIA, a representative of an agency trying to help people in need, and an Ottawa area dairy farmer.

The message is a powerful one: rising electricity bills will result in increased costs for everyone including for food, as well as job losses as business try to cope.

Dairy farmer Peter Ruiter of Black Rapids Farm says the province ought to have figured out how it was going to pay for its renewables progarm. He invited Energy Minister Bob Chiarelli to come to his farm.

Listen to the program here.

 

 

Senator Bob Runciman: Environment Ontario “derelict” in duty if Amherst Is power plant allowed

10 Friday Jan 2014

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NEWS RELEASE
Senator Robert Runciman>
OTTAWA, January 10, 2014 – It will be a dereliction of duty if the Ministry of Environment allows a major industrial wind turbine project to go ahead on Amherst Island, Senator Bob Runciman said today.

Runciman was responding to the news that the Ontario government has deemed complete a Renewable Energy Approval application by Windlectric for up to 37 giant turbines to be installed on Amherst Island, just west of Kingston. The government is now inviting public comment on the proposal until March 8.

The senator, who introduced a motion passed unanimously by the Senate two years ago calling for a moratorium on such projects in Important Bird Areas such as Amherst Island, has written the Ministry of the Environment objecting to this latest project. He noted that a similar project on Wolfe Island, also an Important Bird Area, has proven to be one of the deadliest for birds and bats in North America.

“The government is riding roughshod over local objections, including by the duly elected council of Loyalist Township, and ignoring that this is one of the most critical areas for birds in North America, and home to 34 species at risk,” Runciman said.

“If anyone came along with a proposal posing this kind of threat to birds and other wildlife in such a sensitive area, but it didn’t have the words ‘Green Energy’ stamped on it, there would be no question this government would put a stop to it,” Runciman said. “And if they didn’t, the environmental lobby would harass them until they did. But because it’s green energy, the environmental movement seems content to ignore the despoiling of the environment and the wanton killing of birds.”

The situation is even more tragic, considering that the expansion of renewables, which typically provide power at times when there is no demand, has resulted in a huge over-supply of electricity, meaning it is being sold to places like Michigan, Minnesota and Quebec at a fraction of the cost of generation.

“We are destroying the quality of life in rural communities to produce power we don’t need and then giving that power away to neighbouring jurisdictions at roughly 25 per cent of the cost we’re paying to generate it. Then those jurisdictions use that cheap power to compete with Ontario industries. Is it any wonder Ontario lost more than 39,000 jobs last month alone?” Runciman said.

For more information or to arrange an interview, please contact:
Barry Raison, Policy Advisor, Office of Senator Bob Runciman
(613) 943-4020 (office) or barry.raison@sen.parl.gc.ca

National Post: Ontario taxpayers don’t benefit from power exports

10 Friday Jan 2014

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Energy Minister Bob Chiarelli likes to crow about how much money Ontario is making when it sells its surplus power. The truth is something far different, even in Mr Chiarelli’s millions-equal-Tim-Hortons-coffees world of mathematics.

Scott Stinson: Ontario powers up electricity exports but taxpayers see little benefit

Republish Reprint

Scott Stinson | January 9, 2014 6:58 PM ET
More from Scott Stinson | @scott_stinson

Jurisdictions that import electricity from Ontario pay close to the wholesale market price but consumers in the province pay much more.

Tyler Anderson/National Post
Jurisdictions that import electricity from Ontario pay close to the wholesale market price but consumers in the province pay much more.

At a time when Ontario has seen its manufacturing industry crater, the province has found that it can still do a booming business with one type of export: electricity.

Unfortunately for ratepayers, the business model is a little unsound. If energy were doughnuts, Ontario would still be expanding its dough supply, while sending ever more trucks full of discounted day-olds to places like Michigan, Minnesota and Quebec.

The province’s Independent Electricity System Operator on Wednesday released its year-in-review of the province’s energy data. Most of the numbers were as expected, with wind energy an increasing part of the supply mix, coal a decreasing part of it and nuclear energy remaining the backbone of the grid.

Energy exports, meanwhile, “rose to 18.3 TWh,” which is an awful lot of electricity: enough to power 300 billion 60-watt bulbs for an hour. The province’s exports have been on a steady upward trend; the 2013 total is a notable jump from 14.6 TWh in 2012 and from 12.9 TWh in 2011, according to figures released by the IESO last year. Exports have increased by almost 50% over that two-year period.

This would be a welcome development if the province and its ratepayers — which is to say, you — received a return for our electricity that was equal to, or ideally above, the amount that was paid to produce it.

But it does not. Jurisdictions that import electricity from Ontario pay something close to the wholesale market price of electricity, a number that changes hour by hour and is dependent on factors too numerous to list here. For 2013 the average wholesale price was between 2.5¢/kWh and 3¢/kWh. The cost paid to produce that electricity, again using the IESO’s own numbers, is on average about 8.5¢/kWh, or about four times the wholesale price.

Consumers pay, again depending on a host of factors, something much closer to the larger number, because built into the cost of our electricity is everything from capital investment to executive salaries to the payout for when gas plants are cancelled in the middle of election campaigns.

This trend, where Ontario ships excess electricity to its neighbours at steep discounts, is not new. In 2011, the province’s Auditor-General noted in a report that “the price Ontarians pay for electricity and the price it charges its export customers … have in recent years been moving in opposite directions.”

Read the full story here.

Kingston area couple again denied property assessment reduction

07 Tuesday Jan 2014

Posted by in Renewable energy, Wind power

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No property assessment reduction for Wolfe Island couple 68

By Paul Schliesmann, Kingston Whig-Standard

Thursday, January 2, 2014 6:22:36 EST PM

Wind turbines on Wolfe Island can be seen across the road from the home of Ed and Gail Kenney.<br /> Ian MacAlpine The Whig-Standard

Wind turbines on Wolfe Island can be seen across the road from the home of Ed and Gail Kenney. Ian MacAlpine The Whig-Standard

KINGSTON – A Wolfe Island couple learned late in 2013 that a re-evaluation of their cottage property, based in part on their proximity to wind turbines, would not result in an assessment reduction.

It was a last ray of hope for Ed and Gail Kenney, who had also unsuccessfully challenged the property value of their home before a Municipal Property Assessment Corporation tribunal, claiming it had been devalued since the construction of the 86-turbine project on the island.

The couple have not been alone in their efforts.

In the west end of the province, Goderich landowner Dave Hemingway got a similar letter from MPAC concerning a reassessment of 80 acres of his family farmland.

Hemingway, who is also chairman of the anti-turbine group SWEAR (Safe Wind Energy for All Residents), was skeptical of the review all along.

A University of Waterloo study released last October, he said, found that health and sleep problems were more prevalent in people the closer they live to turbines.

MPAC, on the other hand, uses “regression modelling” in its assessments.

It looks at the sale prices of similar homes within a certain distance of the property being assessed — then widens that search to assemble a large enough sampling.

“When you go further away from the turbines, the issues aren’t as great,” said Hemingway.

“They don’t take into account properties that don’t sell. Properties close to turbines don’t sell.”

MPAC informed the Hemingways and Kenneys that the assessments of their second properties would be based on a new study of industrial wind turbines it conducted.

However, the guidelines have never been made public, though MPAC officials say a report summarizing the results of the study will be released this year.

Read the full story here.

Happy New Year

31 Tuesday Dec 2013

Posted by in Health, Ottawa, Renewable energy, Wind power

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moon over fourth line farmhouseBest wishes to all for a Happy New Year in 2014.

This past year has been an incredible demonstration of the sense of community people feel in the North Gower-Richmond-Kars area of the City of Ottawa, and the commitment to action to protect that community, and the health, safety and stability of the people who live in it.

A lot of work has been done to protect our community from industrialization by a huge, expensive and unnecessary wind power generation project that would be inappropriately located too close to over 1,000 homes and our school–yet more challenges await.

Thanks to everyone –more than 1250 people–who participated in our amazing petition drive, including the more than 30 volunteers who went door to door for weeks; what an achievement!!!

If you are not already on our email list to receive bulletins, please email ottawawindconcerns@gmail.com

Donations for expenses such as post box, meeting room space, mailings, etc. are most gratefully received.

Ottawa Wind Concerns

 

Denmark: not a happy place for wind power

30 Monday Dec 2013

Posted by in Health, Renewable energy, Wind power

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Here is a documentary from Denmark on the problems with wind power. The country has 5,000+ turbines already, and complaints of sleep deprivation and ill health are mounting.

Note that in this video a doctor says the association is clear but there is not much to be done about it as the people who have the money to do the research (i.e., the wind power biz) don’t have the inclination, and a wind turbine neighbour asks, WHY is the onus on ME to prove that I’m sick? Shouldn’t the wind power companies have to prove that their machines are safe?

Interesting to watch this, a week after the Dufferin Envirnmental Review Tribunal decision in which the conclusion once again is that there is no causal link between noise from turbines and health effects.

The video is here.

 

MPP MacLeod asks, where is Energy Minister Chiarelli?

27 Friday Dec 2013

Posted by in Health, Ottawa, Renewable energy, Wind power

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Open Letter
 

Honourable Bob Chiarelli

Minister of Energy

 

Dear Minister,

 

I am writing you for the third time in seven days regarding two matters of substantial concern to Hydro users in Ontario. Your absence in the last week has been noticeable and makes me question your commitment and desire to carry out your duties and mandate.

 

First, as you are aware in our Eastern Ontario region, Hydro One has initiated improper billing procedures and has threatened to cut of power during the winter for families who are unable to meet Hydro One’s unreasonable demands.  Last Friday, December 20th I requested a directive from you to Hydro One to be issued no later than Monday, December 23rd to correct Hydro One’s incompetent and dishonest billing system, however rural Eastern Ontarians are still waiting for you to display leadership.  No corrective measures have been taken.

 

Secondly and more pressing are the tens of thousands of people without power in Toronto, the GTA and throughout rural Southwestern Ontario.   As hydro crews make steady progress I remain concerned that you have still not contacted Opposition MPPs whose communities are impacted by power outages. As you know, it is very important for the Government to communicate with MPPS, even from other political parties, because their constituents turn to them for information and reassurance on the Government’s resolve to return power to their homes. Many Ontarians have gone without power for almost a week, unfortunately, I have been informed by my Progressive Conservative colleagues in affected areas that neither you, nor the Premier’s office or Hydro One have initiated communication with them. This is a basic failure of communication and one that I asked you to rectify in my Tuesday, December 24th follow up letter to you.  

 

Minister, as I am sure you can appreciate, maintaining power and restoring power is absolutely crucial to Ontarians during the winter.   It is -10 today.   I request your immediate action and an end to your week long silence in these two most pressing energy related matters.

Lisa MacLeod, MPP
Nepean-Carleton
Ontario PC Energy Critic 

Another month, another $162 million. Thanks, Bob.

19 Thursday Dec 2013

Posted by in Renewable energy, Wind power

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 chiarelli1.jpg.size.xxlarge.promo
I don’t need a calculator, I can do it all in my head.

 

Another month, another $162 million hit to Ontario’s ratepayers

 

The Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO) posted its November Market Summary on December 18 but so far, Energy Minister Chiarelli hasn’t claimed a profit.  He did just that on TVOntario’s The Agenda with Steve Paikin earlier this month, when he claimed Ontario generated a $6 billion profit on exporting electricity.

 

A look through the IESO market summary shows that Ontario exported an average of 2,243 megawatts (MW) each and every hour of November—that means a total of 1,614,960 MWh left Ontario destined for New York, Michigan and Quebec.  The average hourly energy price during the month was a paltry $14.93 per MW (or 1.5 cents per kWh), meaning revenue generated from those exports contributed just over $24 million to production and ancillary costs.

 

The average cost to Ontario ratepayers is also revealed in the market summary; that was considerably more, at $115.26 per MWh (or 11.5 cents per kWh). In other words, Ontario’s loss on the exported power was $162 million for the month.

 

It is obvious that much of the wind power generated throughout

November wound up either exported or

caused other generation to be exported or wasted

 

What that means to every one of the 4.9 million ratepayers in Ontario is a payment of an average of $33.00 each to subsidize those exports for November.  The exact role wind and solar played in those exports is not disclosed in the market summary, but wind production during November was high and totaled 721,000 MWh or 1,000 MW per hour.  The cost of that power production to the ratepayers is estimated to be almost $100 million, without including the costs of the gas plants backing wind up, spilled hydro, or steamed off nuclear at Bruce Power.  It is obvious that much of the wind power generated throughout November wound up either exported or caused other generation to be exported or wasted.

 

The total amount picked up by the average ratepayer in Ontario to support those exports so far in 2013 is approximately $280.00 each.   In announcing the new Long term Energy Plan, Energy Minister Bob Chiarelli’s forecast a rate increase of 42% increase over the next five years—it looks like that may come true much sooner than he forecast.

 

It is time to pull the plug on the 3,700 MW of uninstalled but contracted wind and the 1,400 MW of solar before the cost to subsidize electricity exports is more than the average ratepayer’s electricity bill!

 

The $6-billion dollar man, as energy analyst Tom Adams calls Minister Chiarelli, should seriously consider taking a math lesson or two before embarking on any more forecasts.

 

©Parker Gallant,

December 18, 2013

The opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily represent Wind Concerns Ontario policy.